The Panzerjager 1

Original idea behind Panzerjager 1

My brother has always loved the Czech-made  Skoda  47 mm  anti-tank gun and he had no intention to build a Panzerjager 1 at first.   He wanted to build the towed version instead.  He changed his mind after a war game in which we did reenacting the Battle of France.  At that time, our German army had no anti-tank gun at all and we desperately needed something to give an advantage to the German army over the French one.  After all, the French did lose the battle!

History of the Panzerjager 1

The Panzerjager 1 was the first attempt by German army  to produce a cheap tank destroyer.  It was clearly a stopgap solution.  

There two production runs for a total of 202 vehicles.  There were two versions built.  The first batch had a five-sided shield and the second a seven-sided gun shield.  In both versions, the Panzerjager 1 was not a success even though the 47 mm was a good anti-tank gun at that time. 

The Panzerjager 1 was a very small tank as our scale model shows

The crew as almost no protection against enemy fire

As mention in Wikipedia, the testimonies of the crews who served them are appalling:

"The 4.7 cm armor-piercing shells (Panzergranaten) are very good against 45 to 50 millimetres (1.8 to 2.0 in) thick armor at ranges up to 500 metres (550 yd) - sufficient to 600 metres (660 yd). Observation is very bad. You have to look over the shield to observe to the front, resulting in head shots (Kopfschüsse)! In effect the crew are blind when attacking in villages or against street barricades, M.G. nests and individual tanks".

Anti-tank Battalion 643 25 July 1940

"The effective range of the 4.7 cm Pak(t) is 1,000 to 1,200 metres (1,100 to 1,300 yd) with a maximum range of 1,500 metres (1,600 yd). When attacking an enemy position equipped with anti-tank guns and artillery, as occurred near Mogilev and Rogachev, because of its high superstructure that presents a good target for artillery and anti-tank guns, the Panzerjäger is destroyed before it can get into action."

Anti-tank Battalion 521 July 1941

Original drawing of the Pazerjager 1

George Bradford “German early war armored fighting vehicles” provide the scale drawing required to cut the parts.

Pictures from the book “Standard catalog of German military vehicles” had been used “to polish” the work.  By the way, if you find that book, I strongly recommend buying it

Building of the Panzerjager 1 fact sheets

The version built of our Panzerjager 1 was the second one with the seven-sided gun shield.

Everything is in pine wood. 

The running gear was drawn which is the standard technic of my brother.

Our total production of this miniature Panzerjager was  2.

Your comments are always welcome.